Many telecommunications companies create models of the business, functional, and system requirements for their organization or a portion of their organization. A model might provide a graphical representation of the systems, processes, functions, personnel, hardware, software, and other entities needed to provide the services offered by the organization. The relationships among these entities and a designation of which entities will perform which activities might also be included in a model.
The enhanced Telecom Operations Map (eTOM) is sometimes used as a guide for the creation of models. eTOM provides a generic blueprint that can be used as a guide for modeling the internal processes of a telecommunications company. A company can then use the eTOM framework as a starting point for creating customized models of its processes or for analyzing its existing processes. The eTOM framework consists of a strategy, infrastructure, and product area that deals with strategy and lifecycle management; an operations area that deals with operations support, fulfillment, assurance, and billing; and an enterprise management area that deals with corporate-wide management. Each of these areas consists of multiple sub-areas.
As an example, eTOM might specify a generic hierarchy of processes and functions that should be followed in the area of order handling. There might be broad guidance dealing with taking orders, verifying orders, designing custom solutions to meet a customer's needs, resolving any concerns, tracking orders, and other order-related issues. Each telecommunications company might customize these broad guidelines to create models that meet its specific needs and circumstances. In this way, eTOM allows different companies to deal with each other and their vendors in a standard manner.